‘Serious loophole’: GOP widens probe into ActBlue, Dem fundraising platform helping Harris raise millions

Rep. Bryan Steil urges the FEC ‘to initiate an emergency rulemaking for campaigns’ to better vet donors.

ActBlue, the largest Democratic fundraising platform, is being investigated by a key House Committee.

ActBlue is being investigated by Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who chairs the Committee on House Administration. He’s investigating ActBlue because of allegations that it skirts campaign donation laws, allowing for fraud to be rampant on the site.

Steil, in a letter to the top officials of the Federal Election Commission on Monday, urged them to: “immediately implement an emergency rulemaking requiring political campaigns to verify card verification values (‘CVVs’) for donors who make online contributions using a debit or credit card and to prohibit campaigns from accepting online donations from gift cards or other prepaid card.”

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Republicans and other GOP officials have accused ActBlue for months of having lax standards in donor verification.

Steil wrote: “After widespread allegations of fraud donations reported to the FEC, ActBlue, the largest fundraising platform in the United States, this emergency rulemaking was necessary to reassure Americans that ActBlue takes the necessary steps to safeguard its donors.”

ActBlue is accused by whistleblowers, who have approached his panel in the past few weeks, of deliberately not using CVV number for donations so as to lower the bar for verification.

According to the committee, whistleblowers also reported that a large number of retirees on fixed incomes had made donations, including hundreds of donations for $2.50.

The site was used to raise millions for Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking to challenge former President Trump this November.

On Monday morning however, the page that accepts credit card donations was required to have a CVV code.

Fox News Digital also found that a CVV number is required to make credit card donations on the ActBlue pages of several Democratic House Candidates, even though PayPal, Venmo, and Google Pay do not require this information.

The FEC had not yet imposed any specific rules regarding the use of CVV numbers in online donations as of last spring.

Steil argued in his letter that the acceptance of gift cards and prepaid credit cards on the site created a “very realistic possibility” that “straw donors could be making campaign contributions with money provided by a third party or illegal donor, including a foreigner.” This issue presents a serious flaw in the integrity and transparency of the campaign donations process. An emergency rulemaking will be required to correct these issues.

Whistleblowers also told the committee that prepaid gift cards or credit cards were being used as a way to hide campaign contributions, which would otherwise be in violation of campaign finance laws.

The investigation follows similar ones launched last week by the GOP Attorneys General of Virginia, Wyoming, and Missouri.

ActBlue responded to Newsweek’s inquiries by saying, “This investigation was nothing more than an partisan political attack aimed at undermining the power of Democratic donors and progressives who give small amounts.” We are happy to have the chance to respond to such frivolous allegations.

Fox News Digital contacted the FEC and they declined to comment.

ActBlue and Harris did not respond when asked for comment.